Ai slowing down during nighttime

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by bhendrik, Apr 19, 2016.

  1. bhendrik

    bhendrik Registered

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    I like to do long enduranceraces with the ai. During a 8 hour race i put the timescale on x 6 so we do all a bit of nightracing as well. So far so good, do to great physics, great 24h cycle, fantastic realroad and of course you can edit many settings to your own liking. I noticed that during nighttime the ai slows down en cannot produce the laptimes they did during the daytime. It happens with every mod i tried, megane, urd egt, flat 6 etc. It happens on any circuit i tried: magnificant parc, fuji, sebring etc. They return to speed when the sun comes op in the morning. Example: magnificant parc laptimes during daytime : 3.42 and during nighttime 3.48. Is this the way it should work, or is this a flaw?
    I mean, with lesser light i can understand that you are a bit slower, but i ( as non ai driver) can maintain my speed and laptimes, so the difference in laptime and speed are getting an bit out of hand during the dark hours. Is there a way to solve this?
     
  2. stonec

    stonec Registered

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    Could be related to dropping track temperatures transmitting less heat to tires, in which case it could be at least partly realistic.
     
  3. peterchen

    peterchen Registered

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    Seems not as real driver doesnt have that experiance???
     
  4. stonec

    stonec Registered

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    AI in rF2 uses rF1 tire model whereas human driver uses the new TGM model. rF2 tire performance isn't depending much at all on track surface temperature at this moment, but maybe rF1 model had this "feature".
     
  5. Ronnie

    Ronnie Registered

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    Not true. Track temps have very big influence on a car's handling, grip, stability. My buddy even had a very crushing moment when a car that he was making was taken to singleplayer and was almost in tears that he might have made a big mistake while doing some changes to it. Then realized that track temps were different and it made his car work completely different.

    If you don't believe take one of the newest ISI cars (there are few REALLY advanced and mega well built modded cars that are soon to be released that react super well to temps) and on new ISI tracks set temp to extremes. Very high and very low temps. I bet you that you will feel the difference. The only thing that doesn't work well with temps right now is temp transition. I bet it is being worked on.

    As for why AI is slower at night is not a question for me. Night time is usually very good moment for some super quick times. During WEC races many lap records are set during nighttime. I believe race lap record at 12 h of Bathurst was set as the sun was rising so visibility was increasing but track surface and ambient temp was still low enough so the grip was at it's best and engine performance was also at it's peak.
     
  6. peterchen

    peterchen Registered

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    Well, all that temp-talk is very interesting, and to be honest I was unsure all the years if track-temps have influence or not!
    So thanks Ronnie to clear this up!

    BUT: AI should be tweaked/calibrated correctly so that it matches players performance as good as possible!
    That´s in rF2 not always the case, what is a pitty and not understandable for me as the AI is soo good in all other regards!
    rF2 is destroying it´s strong points sometimes.....
     
  7. Marc Collins

    Marc Collins Registered

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    OK, but OP is saying he tested this with multiple mods and multiple tracks and the AI is always slower in the dark. I guess we need to know what the simulated track temps are during these overnight stints (lower...and how low?) and whether using time scale of x6 affects things.
     
  8. bhendrik

    bhendrik Registered

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    Well, i run them with scripted weather for example 26 degrees and sunny from befinning to end. So in theory track temp doesn't change or am i wrong? With the times scale at x6 it is getting dark but does that mean the track temp wiil drop even when you have scripted weather with constant sun and stable 26 degrees? If the temp drops this could be why ai is slowing down, buth if this it noy the case there could be another explanation.
    I drove the isi meganes (latest version) at magnificant park, the flat6 at fuji, the urd egt at sebring.
     
  9. marvelharvey

    marvelharvey Registered

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    Here's a changelog from build 860:

    "- Made the AI speed reduction due to darkness start at 0.5 light instead of .99"

    So what you're seeing seems to be intentional.
     
  10. peterchen

    peterchen Registered

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    Good find marvelharvey!
    So it´s intentional but not realistic at all!!?
     
  11. stonec

    stonec Registered

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    Well some sort of reduction in speed is realistic due to limited visiblity, but 6 seconds sounds way much indeed.
     
  12. bhendrik

    bhendrik Registered

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    Thanks, missed that so it seems. And i get the idea but they slow down way to much it seems. I will do some more testing and report my findings here on different circuits because i find it a bit of an immersion killer when i race during nighttime.
     
  13. peterchen

    peterchen Registered

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    It was just established here that in real life BEST LAPS are often driven in night time! So...?
     
  14. Crippyoh

    Crippyoh Registered

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    8 hour race with timescale at x6 is a 48 hour race :)
     
  15. MarcG

    MarcG Registered

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    As much as I detest having to use JSON entries to alter things in game, this is something that could perhaps be used to tweak the AI of your choice when Night Racing.
    As above we don't have to suffer a 24hour race fatigue situation, especially when it's 3pm in the real world and we're racing the AI @ Toban at 1:30am in the Sim World - we're gonna be more awake and therefore you'd probably want the AI to be of a similar awake/awareness state as you are in. The ability to tweak it would be cool if you're hardcore enough to actually drive a 6hour stint ending the race in darkness, you're gonna be tired by the end and you probably therefore want the AI to be as well, little things though in the grand scheme of it all :)
     
  16. Rocket123

    Rocket123 Registered

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    Actually you go faster at night . I know from experience having done quite a few 24 races in the real world . During the day the track is greasy and hot and you slide around more as your tire pressure can increase a lot from original settings . At night with the cooler temps the tires can work at there set temp and pressures giving you a lot more leeway to push the vehicle that much harder . Also you will have a tunnel vision effect at night because you are only seeing what the lights are showing you so you find your self with very little distraction other than the track in front of you . My lap times at night were always equal to or better than my qualifying times and so the teams I drove for always put me in the car at night .
    Also from experience there were other drivers intimidated by night racing and also rain racing so perhaps the AI are taking that into account ...

    ;)
     
  17. bhendrik

    bhendrik Registered

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    Yes, the ability to tweak this in JSON would be great
     

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